Marulan circuit set for upgrade

Motorsport and performance motoring fans would be well advised to keep the name 'Pheasant Wood' in their minds – because Australia's newest circuit owner has big plans for what was once the Marulan Dirt and Tar Circuit.

Sydney businessman and racer Steve Shelley purchased the Marulan track in late 2016 and, last weekend, opened the first part of a multi-stage redevelopment that includes a new name and a big future.

Located 90 minutes from Sydney and just 25 minutes from Goulburn, the Marulan circuit was founded in 2009 by former Australian Touring Car Championship and Bathurst 1000 privateer, Garry Willmington – reversing the trend for racetracks to disappear under housing estates.

Ideally situated five minutes from a major junction on the Hume highway, the circuit has easy access to both Sydney and Canberra, and a stunning outlook over natural bushland.

The facility already included a dirt speedway, a 1.3km bitumen circuit and facilities for RallyCross competition, and was aimed at entry-level motorsport, driver training and drive days. Now, the new investment is a game-changer.

Transformational investment

Shelley's input has already seen the facility transformed, with plans well in motion to transform it into a world-class circuit for racing, driver training, corporate days and more.

Stage one of the expected multi million-dollar upgrade opened last weekend with the second round of the Australian RallyCross Series.

Shelley said his introduction to the circuit came by chance, but it left him with a lasting impression.

"I came out here about four years ago just on a track day, mucking around with some Aussie Racing Cars. When I saw it, I fell in love with it and I said to Garry, just in passing: 'If ever you have a desire to move on or want to do something different, please make me the first person you call,'" Shelley explained.

"A couple of years later he gave me a call and we did a deal. Part of that deal was that he was going to stay on and help me manage it and transform it into what it is today – and that's what he did," he said.

Big Plans

Stage One of the upgrade included a completely new surface, with 1.5km of wider, smoother bitumen now firmly in place. Changes to the layout included a challenging sequence of switchback hairpins, both vastly wide and with significant camber.

Major safety improvements, including concrete walling, brand-new tyre barriers and paved runoff have also been completed, as has a dedicated dirt loop for RallyCross competition.

It already ranks as one of the more significant investments in a permanent circuit in Australia in the last decade. There is more to come, including a multi-story pit lane complex complete with corporate facilities and a drivers' club.

"We've basically just completed the track surface now. We want to beautify the place and we have a lot of landscaping we want to do. We've got to develop all the car parking, the infrastructure facilities," Shelley said.

"Then we want to work on our pit area. We've just received our DA [Development Application] to do a beautiful building that will provide that corporate offering. It will have a driver's club, proper garaging facilities and drivers' amenities suites."

New track, new name

The revised circuit also comes with a revised name: Pheasant Wood.

It comes from the name of the cemetery in France where Shelley's late grandfather is buried, having died during WWI near Fromelles, in Northern France.

The rebranding will go a long way to help drawing the kind of corporate customers that the circuit is looking to attract. The challenging track, which includes significant elevation change, a variety of high and low-speed corners, heavy braking applications and a series of quick direction changes, is also ideally suited to driver training.

"I'd like to get kids off the street, not learning how to drive the very first time they've been in a drivers' seat; I'd rather that they do it here than on the street," Shelley explained.

"Right through to RallyCross, Go-karts, all different types of closed and open wheel motor racing – even push bikes, who knows.

"I also want to make it a beautiful corporate offering, so people can come down with their executives or whoever they might be in a corporate environment and training environment – be it car training, or even strategising what they are doing in their company.

"Or even having the driving, car racing as a supplement to that."

Looking forward

The upgrade is also a shot in the arm for motorsport in New South Wales, which lacks in major facilities.

It's also likely to be a strong alternative to Sydney Motorsport Park, which is always solidly booked for driver training and corporate or manufacturer days.

But don't expect the Pheasant Wood circuit to compete with neighbour Wakefield Park when it comes to hosting circuit racing events.

"That's a much bigger circuit; we're much more boutique. We're more suited to smaller vehicles, or smaller numbers of race cars," Shelley said.

"I think we can work in closely with Wakefield and where we stop, they start and vice-versa.

"We can work in as 'sister companies,' if you like, and provide better offerings to the motorsport fraternity," Shelley stated.